p;l=as1&asins=B003NLE5JU&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr"> Sex comedies are a difficult balancing act, as filmmakers risk putting off audiences for overdoing the raunch. You can be "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and pull it off, or be "41-Year-Old Virgin" and eff it up. Although it tries harder than recent efforts, "Made for Each Other" falls in the latter camp.
The film hardly goes deeper than its trailer. Dan (Christopher Masterson) has been married to Marcy (Bijou Phillips) for three months already, and they still haven't done the deed. She's claiming soreness from a genital piercing. He buys this excuse, yet is so horny, he gives into the rather forward advances of his boss, Catherine (Lauren German). Making this act of infidelity doubly "? no, triply "? bad is that Catherine is Dan's ex-GF ... and also Marcy's sister.
On the advice of his best bud (Samm Levine) "? who's balling Dan's mom, incidentally "? he hires a local stage actor (Patrick Warburton) "? fresh off "Waterworld: The Musical" to seduce Marcy, in order to assuage his own guilt. (Hey, did we see that last year as Mike Judge's "Extract"? Yes, we did.)
Rollicking, right? Well, no. Dan is portrayed as such a dimwit, his mouth is smothered with hot wing sauce in at least three full scenes. German practically humiliates herself by making all sorts of rude gestures in public that everyone fails to notice, not to mention asking for sex-related cleaning tips at a restaurant. Having the old couple next door extol the virtues of backdoor lovemaking in the first scene is there only to pay off a ridiculously belabored gag in the third act, except there is no payoff. There is midget-tossing, however, which says a lot about the movie's aspirations.
One of the most interesting things about it is all off-screen: Appearing in a supporting role is Masterson's brother, Danny, who in real life is engaged to Phillips. So, basically, he gets to watch his sib make out with his own bride-to-be. Okay, so it's not that interesting. More so is that with Phillips and German in the cast, it's like a "Hostel: Part II" reunion! All that's missing is Heather Matarazzo hanging upside-down.
Even with the awfully cute Phillips displaying palpable girl-next-door presence, "MFEO" is pretty close to being a POS. "?Rod Lott
